The Portuguese see themselves as progressive, defenders of the environment and the rights of homosexuals and immigrants, but they distrust politicians, criticize the quality of democracy and risk being seduced by right-wing populism “in the near future”, according to a survey.
Presented today at the Mário Soares e Maria Barroso Foundation, the study “Between Pluralism and Populism: Democracy, Migration and the Welfare State in the eyes of the Portuguese”, carried out by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in collaboration with ISCTE, is based on telephone interviews, with 1,017 validated surveys, and took place in October 2023, even before the fall of the government and the scheduling of early parliamentary elections.
“We expressly point out that all the conclusions presented are based exclusively on the results of the study. Current political developments must be interpreted separately. In this sense, the study only serves as a basis for further discussion. Under no circumstances should it be used as a source for future election campaigns,” concludes the press release accompanying the release of the results.
The telephone interviews revealed that the Portuguese see themselves as progressive, defending the fight against climate change (82%), the rights of immigrant children, namely the right to Portuguese nationality if born in Portugal (74%), and the rights of homosexual couples, namely equal rights with heterosexual couples in adoption (61%), with a majority of respondents claiming to feel very attached to Europe (72%).
However, “57% of Portuguese want to have priority over immigrants in access to housing and 44% in access to employment,” says the summary of the study, which adds that 26% of respondents believe that immigrants should not have the same rights as the Portuguese and 23% believe that immigrants impoverish Portuguese cultural life.
It is among the voters of the parliamentary left that there are more people who declare themselves to be progressive, while among the right, there are more people who are critical of politicians and the functioning of democracy in Portugal, with 61.25% of voters from this political spectrum declaring themselves to be “not at all satisfied”.
According to the results, the majority believe that “democracy is a compromise between different interests and opinions” (81%) and that a person who has a different political opinion is “not bad” (72%), but there is also a majority who “think politicians are dishonest” (66%) and that “the country needs a strong leader who can decide quickly on everything” (62%).
“Only 44% reject Salazarism,” the study concludes.
The results also show, according to the authors, that “right-wing sympathizers in particular, who seem to be the most dissatisfied with the functioning of democracy in Portugal, run the risk of being seduced by populists who reject pluralism, science and representative democracy”.
On the risks of giving in to populism, the study presents two apparently conflicting conclusions.
On the one hand, it concludes that the Portuguese are “cosmopolitan, love Europe and accept migration as part of their nature”, but “if the state doesn’t show its presence in public policies to improve public infrastructures, populists can easily attract voters”.
On the other hand, it concludes that “the Portuguese value science as a basis for difficult decisions, the democratic pluralism of opinions and fair debates”, so that “it therefore doesn’t pay to be a populist politician in Portugal”.
“People on the left trust the state, the parties and their politicians more than people on the right. The moderate right risks losing votes because its supporters have less confidence in democracy,” the conclusions read.
The Portuguese also showed a high level of appreciation for the role of trade unions, with 69% saying that “strong unions are needed to protect working conditions”, but 75% saying they had never belonged to one.
Party political participation is also low, with 80% claiming never to have joined a party.